Premature births still a mystery

22nd June 2009

Although the number of babies who survive being born prematurely has dramatically improved over the last thirty years, scientists are still unsure about why premature births occur.

20% of women give birth prematurely because they are having a multiple birth. However this still leaves around 40,000 women every year who give birth early and do not know why. At the Tommy's Centre for Reproductive Biology in Edinburgh, Professor Jane Norman said: "We can put a man on the moon but can't understand the very basic processes by which we all came into the world."